Psychology data bank

51. As an HR consultant specializing in reduction and prevention of absenteeism, your client is the CEO of an organization with a $1,000,000 annual payroll. You advise the CEO that, as a rough rule of thumb, the cost of absenteeism for his firm is probably around ____ annually.

a.	$1,500 per employee
b.	$15,000 per employee
c.	$15,000 total
d.	$150,000 total

52. Carl is a single father. This morning his 5-year old son woke up with a 104 degree fever and a body rash. Carl has called his supervisor to say that he will have to take his son to the doctor and that he may be out all day depending on the doctor’s diagnosis. This would be categorized as ____ absenteeism.

a.	functional
b.	dysfunctional
c.	involuntary
d.	voluntary

53. You are the director of HR for a medium-sized garden Internet/catalog firm. You are reviewing the absenteeism data for all non-managerial employees in order to better understand patterns of behavior in the organization. You find

a.	the people who are tardy are not likely to be frequently absent.
b.	absenteeism rates are spread fairly evenly across employees.
c.	a small number of employees is responsible for most of the absenteeism.
d.	the Baby-Boomers are most likely to be absent because they have medical problems.

54. To some extent, organizational policies and rules can control ____ absenteeism.

a.	functional
b.	voluntary
c.	withdrawal-based
d.	health-related

55. At SymRose, Inc., non-exempt production employees who have perfect attendance for the month receive a coupon for five free Starbucks coffee drinks. This is an example of a ____ approach to absenteeism management.

a.	disciplinary
b.	progressive
c.	no fault
d.	positive reinforcement

56. Both absenteeism and turnover are forms of

a.	silent protest against the breaking of the psychological contract.
b.	withdrawal from the firm.
c.	economically-motivated behavior.
d.	opportunistic employee behavior.

57. Angela is discussing the absenteeism policies of her company with another HR professional. Angela says the new absenteeism system which allows employees to manage their own attendance works very well on the whole, but that one employee used up all his absences and had to be disciplined when he skipped work to be best man in his brother’s wedding. Angela’s company probably uses the ____ approach to absenteeism control

a.	paid-time-off
b.	positive reinforcement
c.	disciplinary
d.	no fault

58. Paid time-off programs usually result in

a.	less total time away from work.
b.	high levels of abuses of the system especially in cases of illness.
c.	reduction in one-day absenteeism events.
d.	buy-backs of unused days off.

59. Regular review of turnover data by length of service would indicate all of the following EXCEPT

a.	if the organization needs to improve its employee orientation processes.
b.	if the employer should institute flexible work scheduling.
c.	if the organization should implement more intensive mentoring programs.
d.	if the organization is losing significant experience and “organizational wisdom.”

60. The absenteeism management approach that results in lower incidents of one-day absenteeism, but in an overall higher amount of employee time away from the job is the

a.	no-fault approach.
b.	positive reinforcement approach.
c.	disciplinary approach.
d.	paid-time-off approach.

61. As HR manager for a chain of grocery stores, you estimate that (on average) the employees that you hire on August 1 will be with the store

a.	until the end of September.
b.	until early November.
c.	the following August.
d.	indefinitely.

62. Herbert, the director of HR for a large bank, has learned that the executive vice president of commercial loans has turned in her resignation. This EVP makes $150,000 per year in salary. Herbert wonders how he will manage to absorb the cost of this turnover into this year’s budget. He estimates it will cost the bank as much as ____ to replace this individual.

a.	$5,000
b.	$15,000
c.	$150,000
d.	$300,000

63. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

a.	It is illegal for an employer to continue to hire new employees at the same time it is laying off other employees.
b.	When long-service employees leave the firm, the turnover is often functional because they no longer act as a brake on the introduction of new technology and new work processes.
c.	Employers are mainly concerned about the loss of high performing employees. The turnover of poor performers is seen as functional.
d.	The labor market is so tight that most employers are seeking to retain “warm bodies” in jobs, regardless of performance level.

64. You have been hired to be the retention officer for a large software design firm. The firm wishes to reduce the number of adequately-performing designers who leave their jobs. Your main focus should be on ____ turnover among the designers.

a.	voluntary
b.	involuntary
c.	uncontrollable
d.	functional

65. Mark was terminated because of his excessive tardiness and absenteeism record. This is an example of

a.	uncontrollable turnover.
b.	a voluntary separation.
c.	involuntary turnover.
d.	dysfunctional turnover.

66. Analyzing organizational turnover statistics by the employee’s reason for leaving would identify

a.	what proportion of separations were functional and what proportion were dysfunctional.
b.	whether churn was occurring.
c.	if most employee turnover was controllable or uncontrollable.
d.	if employee turnover was voluntary or involuntary.

67. ____ is a process in which employees leave the organization and have to be replaced.

a.	Turnover
b.	Redundancy
c.	Attrition
d.	Layoff

68. Calculations of the cost of absenteeism should include all the following EXCEPT

a.	cost of recruiting new employees.
b.	overtime for replacement employees.
c.	substandard production.
d.	overstaffing needed to cover absences.

69. As the new director of HR for a small manufacturing organization that has never had an HR professional before, you have decided to calculate the absenteeism rate per month for the company. Since you want to benchmark this rate against U.S. Department of Labor data you will use its equation. You need to collect all the following data EXCEPT

a.	the hours of machine down-time due to absenteeism during the month.
b.	the number of person-days lost through absence during the month.
c.	the average number of employees for the month.
d.	the number of work days in the month.

70. WesternBioLabs, Inc., is in the process of laying off 20% of its shipping and receiving employees at the same time that it is hiring new hourly employees to staff a new night shift. WesternBioLabs is

a.	restructuring the organization.
b.	engaging in churn.
c.	in violation of the WARN act.
d.	dealing with dysfunctional turnover.

71. The U.S. Department of Labor uses "separation" to mean

a.	termination for cause.
b.	dysfunctional turnover.
c.	departures from the organization.
d.	voluntary quits.

72. The severity rate of absenteeism is

a.	the number of absences per 100 employees each day.
b.	the percent of time scheduled that is lost due to absenteeism.
c.	the average time lost per absent employee during a month (or year).
d.	the proportion of person-days lost through job absence during a certain time period.

73. If Beta Homes has 5 employees quit during August, and if on August 15 there are 30 employees, Beta’s turnover rate is

a.	.167%
b.	16.7%
c.	.6%
d.	6%

74. Tina, the director of HR, is disturbed at the high level of turnover at her company. From exit interviews, she suspects that certain supervisors have higher dysfunctional turnover rates among their subordinates than others. In order to verify this hunch, Tina should analyze turnover by department and by

a.	employee performance rating.
b.	employee length of service.
c.	employee race and gender.
d.	employee job title.

75. The absenteeism incidence rate is

a.	the percentage of time lost to absenteeism.
b.	the number of absences per 100 employees per day.
c.	the dollar loss in revenue per absent employee per day.
d.	the average time lost per absent employee during a specified period of time.